Conveying apparatus



July 9, 1940 F. c. AREY 2,207,675

CONVEYING APPARATUS Filed April 9, 1958l 4 sheets-sheet 2 July 9, 1940. F. c. AREY commune APPARATUS Filed April 9,- 193s 4 sheets-snee; s

July 9, 1940. F. c. AREY v2,207,675

CONVEYING APPARATUS Filed April 9v, 1938v 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented July 9, 1940 2,207,675" CONVEYING APPARATUS Fred C. Arey, Oak Park, Ill., assignor to Vulcan Soot Blower Corporation, a corporation of Pennsylvania Application April 9, 1938, Serial No. 291,067

It is common practice, vwhere small objects, such as small castings and screw machine parts, are manufactured in large quantities, to carry such vobjects through washing and cleaning ap paratus to'remove. dirt, oil, metal chips and the like, Ordinarily, the objects to be cleaned and Washed are `carried through lthe apparatus on a 'suitable conveyer having" work-supporting areas composed of perforated plates through which the washing and cleaning `fluids and the dislodged foreign matter `on the work can pass.

Sovfar as I know, no apparatus of this type has been successful in cleaning objects having therein pockets or recesses in whichforeign substances can easily accumulate.

The object of the present invention is to pro,- d uce an apparatus, of the general type above mentioned, which will make it possible effectively to clean small objects even though they contain open pockets or recesses.

In carrying out my invention, I employ a housing and means for carrying the work through the vhousing where it is subjected to the action of cleaning, washing and, preferably also, drying fluids. In accordance with my invention, however, the objects are tumbled as they travel through the housing and thus present all of their sides orfaces, at one time or another, to the cleaning and drying jets, andthe latter are permitted to enter pockets and depressions which, in turn, empty themselves as the objects are turned over. I v I 'Ihe various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularly in the claim; but, for. a full understanding of my invention andl of its objects and advantages, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein: 1 Figure 1 is a side elevation of an apparatus embodying the present invention; Fig. 2 is an endview of the apparatus, on a somewhat larger scale than Fig. 1; Fig.,3 is a section, on a vertical transverse plane indicated by line 3 3 of Fig. 4, illustrating on a still larger scale, the upper part of the apparatus; Fig. 4 is a vertical longitudinal section, on a smaller scale than Fig.

3 ,`the plane of the section beingindicated by line 4 4 in Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view of one ofthe overhead jetting devices; Fig. 6 is a section, on line 6-6 of Fig. 4, but on a larger scale; Figs. 7 and 8 are side elevational views, on the nsame scale as Fig. 6,showing a fragment of the apparatus with the oscillatory grate elements in two different positions, the near side wall of the housing being omitted and a portion of the corresponding side wall of the trough through which the work travels being broken away to expose the grate elements.

In the particular lapparatus illustrated in the drawings, there is along tank I open at the top. Supported upon this tank is a housing 2 of about the same length, open at the ends and on the under side. 'I he tank is divided into two com# partments by a vertical transverse partition 3 and is provided in one of its long side walls with suitable clean out doors 4, one for each compartment. Y

A horizontal work support extends through the housing, just above the top of the tank, preferablyprojecting far enough beyond what may be termed theinlet end of the housing, to permit objects tol be' operated uponv to be deposited thereon outwardly from the housing. The opposite end of the work support may project somewhat beyond Ithe housing so that the objects may bedischarged upon avconveyer or other receiver, not shown, 4after'their treatment has been completed.

In the arrangement'sho-wn, the work support comprises a pairof parallelmetal beams 5, 5 in the form of. angle bars each having a vertical flange to vwhich is secured an upright plate 6 extending throughout the length thereof and forming the sides of a trough or chute whose bottom is formed by a grate structure. This grate structure comprises a series of rocking sections Which'not only supportthe objects to be operated upon, but move them step by step through the housing and turn them over or tumble them as they progress. In the arrangement shown,A ,each grate section consists of a series of segmental plates l fixed to a rock shaft extending betweenv and journalled in the longitudinal beams 5;- the plates in each unit being Aarranged with their planes at right angles to the axis of their supporting shaft and .being spaced ap'artifrom` each other a distance somewhat greater than the thickness of a plate. The shaft of each unit extends through the point which is the center of curvature of the curved edge of each plate. Although each grate unit is just like every other unit, except that the plates in halft of the units are staggered with respect to the remainder, so that the plates in each unit can enter for some distance into the spaces between the adjacent ends of the plates in the two units between which it lies, one half of the total of rock shafts are indicated by the reference number 8 and the other half by the reference number 9; the shafts 8 and 9 alternating with each other. The shafts 8 are provided with radial rocker arms I at one end, while the shafts 9 are provided with radial rocker arms II at the ends which are on the opposite side of the apparatus from that at which the arms Ill are located. On the extreme front end of the beams 5 is an electric motor I2 which, through a speed reducer I4 and a sprocket chain drive I5, rotates a transverse shaft I6 positioned V On each end of the shaft below the beams 5. I is a disk or double crank I'I. The rocker arms I0 and II extend downwardly from their rock shafts, and those in each group are connected together by a connecting rod, the two connecting rods being indicated at I8 and I9 respectively. The two connecting rods are in turn connected to the disks or cranks I'I by pitmans 28 and 2I,

respectively, at points which are displaced from each other one hundred and eighty degrees angularly of the shaft I6. The relative lengths oi the pitmans 2G and 2l is such that when these pitmans are at the opposite ends of their strokes, the upper edges of the plates of one set of grate units are horizontal while the corresponding edges of the other set make an angle ci somewhat more than forty-five degrees to the horizontal. In other words, while the work supporting faces of one half the units are swinging toward a horizontal position, the corresponding faces of the adjacent units are swinging upwardly into inclined positions.

In the use of the apparatus, assuming that l the work supporting surface of the iirst or righthand grate unit in Fig. 7 is horizontal, and that there is an object A resting thereon, a turning of the shaft l@ in either direction causes the rock shafts 8 to turn in the counter-clockwise direction and the shafts t to move clockwise. Thus, the surface on which the object A is resting becomes an inclined surface, the inclination increasing progressively, until the object begins to slide down the incline. During this time the second grate unit from the right in Fig. 7 starts to swing down as to carry its work-supporting surface toward a horizontal plane. The object A, after sliding down on the first grate section, is stopped by the cylindrical surface of the second grate section but, when the limit of oscillatory movements of the grate have-been reached, so that the work-supporting surface of the second section has become horizontal, as indicated in Fig. 8, the object A will be found to have been deposited upon the second section; the shifting of the object from one section to the other being usually accomplished in such a manner as to turn the object upside down, or at least to tumble it so that it no longer has the same side facing upwardly as was the case while it was resting on the rst grate section. The shifting of a piece of work from one grate section to the next, as just described, occurs during a half revolution of the shaft I. During the next half revolution, the second and the third grate sections from the right in Figs. 7 and 8, cooperate as preferably did the rst and the'second sections, so as to cause the object to be delivered from the second grate section to the third. In this way objects dumped on the grate sections lying outwardly from the inlet end of the housing, are fed step by step into and through the housing andare tumbled or turned over during each forward movement. It will be noted that the walls 6 between which the grate units are disposed prevent the objects that are being carried through the housing from fallingoi at the sides of the grate structure, and compel them to move ahead to thel discharge point. y

The compartment in the righthand endl of the tank, as viewed in Fig. l, is adapted to contain a hot soda solution or other solvent tof cut dirt and grease, while the other compartment is adapted to contain hot, clear rinsingl water. As the work travels through the housing, it is subjected rst to jets of liquid from the first compartment, then to jets of liquid from the other compartment and, iinally to air jets; thus causing the work to be washed, rinsed, and dried before leaving the housing.

Two pumps 22` and 24, are provided for pumping the liquid. The inlet side of pump 22 is connected to the washing water compartment of the tank through a pipe 25, while the pump 24 is t connected to the other compartment through a pipe 26; both connections being well above lthe bottom of the tank to permit the settling of solids in a zone below the level at which liquids are withdrawn for use. Discharge pipes 21 and 28 extend from the respective pumps up above the top of the housingand from there extend down into the upper part of the housing. The pipe 21 is shown as terminating in a header com--` prising three transverse conduits 29 high above the grate device and distributed lengthwise of the housing over the compartment for washing water. header. Each of the conduits 23 has at its ends outwardly. and downwardly inclined legs 3IJ`y which terminate in depending tubular elements 3i lying outside of the walls 6. tubular elements 3l terminates in a head 32 seated in an opening 33 in thecorresponding wall just above the grate device. The under or inner walls of the members 29 and 30 and the inner walls of the heads 32 areprovided with jetting orifices 34. Thus, each of these header units, when the pumps are in operation, discharges jets of fluid straight down, diagonally toward the Vgrate device from each side of` the latter to the other, and horizontally in both directions -across the grate device. In this way cleaning and rinsing liquids are caused to strike Toward the outlet end of the housing is athird/ header comprising two of the conduits 29 which are supplied with air under pressure through a pipe 35 entering the housing from above. It is not necessary that the air be discharged fin a horizontal direction above the face ofthe grate and, therefore, theheaded tubular members that depend from the other conduits 29 areV omitted.

The top of the housing contains a numberof outlets 36 through which air and vapors can escape. I also prefer to divide the housing into compartments to coni-lne each fluid to a considerable extent in a given zone. ment shown, there are transverse partition walls 3l in the upper part of the housing, these walls extending downwardly only a short distance. Hanging from the lower end of each of the partitions 3l is a flexible apron 3S, conveniently of rubber; these aprons extending into the top of the trough between the walls 6, 6. There is one of these partition devices close to each end oi the housing,` a third between thevirstltwo .Z54v

Each of the i In the arrange,-

headers and a fourth between the second and third header. f

The housing is preferably provided with a door opposite each header, preferably on the same side of the apparatus as the clean-out doors 4. In the arrangement shown, these doors, indicated at 39, 40 and 4l, are of the vertically slidable, lift type.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a single preferred form of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to the exact structural details thus illustrated and described, but intend to-cover all forms and arrangements which come Within the definitions of my invention constituting the appended claim.

I claim:

In an apparatus of the character described, an elongated housing, a horizontal grate device excylindrical surface extending downward from 10 said plane; the units being so disposed that the ends of the plates in each unit having the curved edges, are entered in the spaces between the ends of plates that are Xed to the shaft of an adjacent unit; and means connectedto said shafts to 15 rock alternate shafts in opposite directions.

` FRED C. AREY. 

